A Yugoslav-born painter who arrived in Los Angeles in 1960 seeking Abstract Expressionism, Vasa instead encountered Minimalism and by 1965 had abandoned traditional painting materials in favor of industrial plastics. Vasa begins his sculptures by casting sections of pigmented acrylic, in large forms of varying thicknesses. He interleaves transparent colored sheets, cutting sections into geometric shapes—cubes, spheres, columns, towers—and polishing them to a smooth finish. His sculptures explore optics and perception through the behavior of light: what appears as solid color may be mostly clear plastic sandwiching a thin slice of pigment, while what seems transparent may be reflection. The artist has stated: “I deliberately avoid meaning in my work, although I enjoy the challenges that recognizable symbols pose.” This approach allows viewers to engage with pure visual phenomena—how light refracts through layered acrylics, how colors shift depending on viewing angle and illumination, how transparent materials create illusions of depth and volume. As a longtime UCLA professor of design, Vasa taught theories of color and form, principles that inform every sculpture he produces. His geometric forms are deceptively simple vessels for complex optical events, each piece transforming as you move around it, revealing different color relationships and spatial illusions with each shift in perspective or change in ambient light.

laminated cast acrylic
42" h x 28" w

Artwork donated by Frank, Jr. In memory of Harrison J.L. Frank, Sr.